The National Statistics Office is making key changes in the Periodic Labour Force Survey. According to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, the National Statistics Office (NSO) is extending the quarterly labour market survey to rural areas.
To facilitate the change in the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFI), NSO is increasing its sample size by 250 percent. The upcoming PLF Survey will have a sample size of 2,72,304 households against the previous sample size of 1,02,400 households.
Why the change in approach
The Periodic Labour Force Survey was launched in 2017 to generate key indicators of employment and unemployment in the urban and rural areas. The survey produced quarterly and annual reports on labor and employment status in the country, however, the quarterly reports were limited to the urban areas only.
The revamped approach to include rural areas in the quarterly reports is aimed at producing a more comprehensive report of labour and employment in all geographies of the country throughout the year. The quarterly report will include labour force participation rate, unemployment rate, and worker population ratio.
The first quarterly report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey, consisting of both rural and urban areas, will be released in August. The proposed report will correspond to the quarter of April-June.
Change in report cycle
The National Statistics Office has also changed the reporting cycle of the PLF Survey. Earlier, the Survey followed a July-to-June reporting cycle. The revamped cycle will follow the calendar year with a January to December reporting cycle.